What if Operation Watch on the Rhine didn't happen

What if instead of using up Germanys last reserves in operation watch on the Rhine AKA the battle of the Bulge what if Germany funneled those reserves into the Eastern Front. What would be the effect on the post-war world? would the Eastern bloc be farther back?
 
The Allied advance occurs faster than OTL, but the advance by the Soviets becomes slower. The Russians will take Warsaw, but the Western Allies may reach Berlin first. With much of Germany now in the Western-bloc, the Soviet influence is still significant, but not as dangerous. Germany may surrender later than OTL, but it will still lose the war.
 
I wonder how much less opposition to the Commonwealth & US armies advancing across the Elbe into Prussia & Berlin there will be? Fanatics will still fight, but more mass & individual surrenders will occur.
 

Deleted member 1487

Depends how the Wacht am Rhein forces are used. If they attack in December against the Soviet forces in Poland before they attack in January, the disparity of forces probably doesn't end well for a German pre-emptive offensive. I think it is likely that Hitler would have an earlier Operation Spring Awakening in Hungary to try and shore up the positions there, namely to defend Budapest from the coming Soviet offensive and secure Hungary and it's oil. That is perhaps the one place they could actually have achieved an operational success in late 1944-early 1945, as they would have a decent correlation of forces compared to the Soviets, have fresher forces, if they used Bodenplatte forces they'd have air superiority, and potentially they'd have surprise on their side. Plus it was largely outside the area the Wallies focused their strategic bombing on, so supply lines would be good. The Soviets on the other hand have their logistics constrained by the shift in rail gauge and supply lines through the Carpathians. They were also a bit overextended at the time and it took them nearly two months to encircle Budapest after launching their October offensive against Hungary; they could be in a position to be smashed up and checked or potentially even driven back.

As this is before the Yalta Conference, Stalin's forces failing to secure Budapest and perhaps being pushed out of a lot of Hungary, even as the Vistula-Oder offensive was to begin, could well result in a different agreement. Depending on what happens down the road the Wallies could advance more quickly and secure Austria and the Czech parts of Czechoslovakia first as well as parts of Hungary, which really changes the fall of borders post-war, especially if Wallied forces get to Yugoslavia or at least portions of it first. Perhaps the Wallies can reach Berlin around the same time as the Soviets, but who knows if the Wallies will even bother, perhaps they focus more on Austria/the Balkans/Hungary? If the Germans do really manage to inflict major damage to Soviet forces in Hungary, that would really prevent them from at least reaching Austria by the end of the war and may well force the Soviets to move forces from Poland to Hungary to make up for their losses, taking steam off of their main push on Berlin.
 

Redbeard

Banned
I don't recall my sources but as I understand a lot in the German military establishment talked about simply deleting the west front by moving as many units to east and say to the Wallies: "we all go east to stop the Soviets from advancing anymore, you are welcome to advance right up to the frontline. Here you can join us or you can't - you'll end up fighting the reds anyway - but we'll end up doing it in the east and not in central Europe!"

I even think Hitler was consulted and here should have answered that he would prefer opening up for the Reds as they would be resisted by the Germans and not welcomed like the Wallies. I might be ageing (the alternative is worse ;)), but after all I wasn't there, so I can't say how much the story is true, but the 25 fairly well equipped Divisions deployed at the Bulge certainly could have changed a lot if unleashed in the east. As Wiking already has explained it can very much change Yalta and hereby European history for 50 years.
 

Geon

Donor
Given how paranoid Stalin was, I could easily see him wondering if there wasn't some sort of secret deal going on between the Allies and the Germans. That seemed to be a major concern for him. If things go badly for Stalin in Hungary he might end up blaming the Allies for the reversal.

At best this means Stalin is more hardline then he was at Yalta.

At worst it means Stalin comes to the conclusion the Allies are in collusion with Germany and all bets are off!
 
The Allied advance occurs faster than OTL, but the advance by the Soviets becomes slower. The Russians will take Warsaw, but the Western Allies may reach Berlin first. With much of Germany now in the Western-bloc, the Soviet influence is still significant, but not as dangerous. Germany may surrender later than OTL, but it will still lose the war.
No. The partition lines/zones of occupation were agreed to before this. The West isn't going to get more of Germany.
 
From what I recall from what I've read here, the occupation zones were mostly agreed on in September (I believe) 1944, and Yalta just codified them. They were certainly done by the time of the Bulge.
 
Depending upon how the Germans use their forces, this could delay the conclusion of the war into June or perhaps July depending on how the Germans use the forces. In particular, transferring the 6th Panzer Army to Hungary to participate in the Konrad operations as a sort of earlier Spring Awakening could yield great dividends, as Konrad II very nearly relieved the city itself while Konrad III almost resulted in the destruction of about 10 Soviet divisions.
 
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